Michael Wardle is an artist who lives and works in Las Vegas. Michael ‘s illustrious and varied art career was well underway by the mid 70’s. Though his education and early career was centered around more traditional disciplines, by the late 80’s and early 90’s he had drifted off into the seductive realm of abstraction where he now makes his home.
About
Michael Wardle was born in Ames, Iowa July 25, 1952. He came from a family of engineers and scientists, but knew at an early age that he would be an artist. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University and has been a full time professional artist since 1974.
Mr. Wardle started doing portraiture in the 1970’s, then moved on to figure painting and bronze sculpture in the early 80’s. In 1989 he started dividing his time between traditional and abstract painting, feeling that both disciplines taught him something about the other.
Michael has lived and worked in California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Connecticut and New York. In the early 90’s, Michael continued to work more on the abstract paintings and started doing murals for hotels and large homes in Las Vegas, as well as across the U.S. and in Mexico. He has shown in dozen of galleries from coast to coast and participated in numerous group and one-person shows. His work is represented in hundreds of private and public collections across the U.S. and abroad.
In 2002 Michael opened his own gallery in Downtown Las Vegas. From 2008-2019 He worked and lived in a few different Studio spaces and continued to work, develop and experiment with different approaches to the paintings, continueing to sell well to a substantial base of collectors, primarily in the US.
In 2019 Michael moved to the mountains of Northern Thailand. Though semi-retired he manages to get in a few good painting sessions every week, enjoy the freedom to experiment and find new ways of making strokes and getting the paint to the canvas.
Life is good
Artist’s Statement – Michael Wardle – December 1991
For fifteen years, as a figure painter, I toned my canvases with a turpentine wash. I enjoyed watching the shapes that the brush strokes seemed to create as the pigment, suspended in the turpentine, would dance across the surface of the canvas. Often I would follow the shapes with more opaque applications of pigment to see where they went. But at some point I would always remind myself that I was a figure painter, mop out the design and patterns that were emerging, and proceed to paint what I had set out to paint.
Finally, late one night in March of 1989, something happened and I allowed myself to let go and follow the urges that had haunted me every time I started a painting. At about 3:00 A.M., I sat in my studio in front of two paintings, “Watch Me Run” and “Monkeys”.
After 15 years of a somewhat rewarding yet frustrating career as a painter, I was home. When painting a representational canvas I am telling the painting what to be. When painting the abstract canvasses, the painting tells me what it is. Each stroke solicits the next, the flow is intuitive, yet deliberate. The process yields a surface that may look unordered and foreign at first, but as one spends time with it, familiarity and a structured sensibility reach out of the canvas and pull the viewer into a new world that has always been there.
I love painting these canvases. They are me, and I am them.
Timeline Bio
Awarded to one graduating art student from Ames High School each year
To continue art education- years later receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree
Making and selling gold and stone jewelry- painted portraits on the side
Had first experiences with suppressing urges to follow patterns in early stages of oil paintings
To visit museums and galleries- enjoyed works by old masters, but was taken by works of Abstract Expressionists
Started doing figure paintings- continued to suppress urges to paint abstract paintings
Built house and studio in Pleasant Grove, Utah
Continued to do figure paintings. Traveled to New York City to visit museums and galleries – was again moved by works of Abstract Expressionists, particularly the work of Willem deKooning, Jackson Pollock, Fannz Kline and Clifford Still
Saw the Frank Stella Retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art- enjoyed his new work and was impressed that he had made such a dramatic change mid-career
Painted first, heavy abstract paintings, “Watch me Run” and “Monkeys”- started spending as much time as possible on new direction in painting. Moved to Darien, Connecticut- commuted to studio on LaFayette Street in SoHo, New York City. Painted New York People series
Felt that though New York was exciting, perhaps it wasn’t the best place to make art- still don’t know if I left New York to run away from something or to find something
After years of not believing, finally left Mormon Church. One man show at Chauser Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona. Did performance pieces with Chuck Alvarez and Tim Weisberg in Los Angeles, California
One man show at Bianco Gallery, Scottsdale Arizona. Started painting murals for casinos in Las Vegas and around the country. Moved to Las Vegas, Nevada- continued to work on abstract paintings. Sculpted head of Sphinx in front of Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas
Held in homes of patrons- selling several pieces at each
Exclusively dedicating himself to his abstract paintings
Nine Nubile Nudies